December 23, 2024
Published by 
Gabriel Ngo on December 23, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on December 23, 2024“So to the best we can, what we do is focus on creating value for others, and how do we do that? We do it by trying to produce products and services that our customers will value more than their alternatives, and not just their alternatives today, but what the alternatives will be in the future.” – Charles Koch, Chairman & CEO of Koch Industries Creating value for others involves producing products and services that the customer will value more than their alternatives—not just alternatives of today, but what alternatives there will be tomorrow. There, I summarized the pithy quote with some inherent wisdom built into it. The end, right? Regardless of how you might personally feel about oil companies, billionaires, Koch Industries, or the Koch brothers in general, I believe this quote applies to this profession now more than […]
December 23, 2024
Published by Gabriel Ngo on December 23, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on December 23, 2024Scenario: Robin John Blake and his wife, Barbara, own and operate Rio Grande Funeral Home & Crematory in Laredo, Texas. For the past 17 years, they have grown their business by serving the community with an excellent reputation. In 2024, Rio Grande served over 350 cases two years in a row for the first time. Laredo, as a funeral service market, is unique in that the city and its surrounding areas still have a relatively low cremation rate, especially when compared to other border Texas towns like El Paso as well as the Rio Grande Valley further south toward Brownsville. Robin was born in Laredo, and after traveling the world having worked in hotel and restaurant management, he came back to his home state and met his wife, Barbara, in Austin years ago. While Barbara’s background was in event planning […]
November 25, 2024
Published by Gabriel Ngo on November 25, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on November 25, 2024Transparency’s Importance in Deathcare’s Online Pricing It almost seems as though The Dalai Lama’s quote is specifically directed at this crossroads where we are, concerning consumer sentiments and online pricing of funeral and cemetery services and goods. I know that you all are probably tired of hearing or reading about online pricing. In the future, we all anticipate having online pricing become a requirement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in some form, shape, or fashion. For some of you, your state already has mandated that you publish your pricing online. This article, however, is not about the FTC, any mandates, or requirements, etc., it is about what consumers want in this ever-advancing technological world, and why you should give it to them: As of 2022, Baby Boomers make up roughly 21% of the population in the United States. Generation […]
June 27, 2024
Published by Gabriel Ngo on June 27, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on June 27, 2024Scenario: Oren Gibson is a fourth-generation owner-operator of Orville H. Gibson Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Sevierville, Tennessee. The business has been serving their community for over 100 years and is deeply and successfully entrenched in Sevierville with a sterling reputation. One Tuesday morning, Oren completed a routine monthly meeting with his entire staff and had just sat down at his desk to approve some invoices when he received a call from the receptionist. A lady named Missy was there to see him, and she had an urn in-hand. He peeked at his calendar and saw that there was not anything that had been scheduled, and the name “Missy” did not ring any bells. He had one funeral director on maternity leave and his other funeral director was off. Oren got up and braced himself for either what could […]
May 29, 2024
Published by Gabriel Ngo on May 29, 2024
Gabriel Ngo on May 29, 2024How to adapt to growing consumer demand for transparency and strategically navigate the FTC’s oncoming pricing requirements. Last month’s article, “Understanding Your Recovery Cost,” by Nelson Thulin, focused on appropriately pricing your services in order to cover your overhead costs. As a follow-up, this article focuses on what you should do to make your business more transparent to consumers once your pricing is in order. This involves answering three questions, which I will share in a bit, as well as understanding today’s consumers and the implications of why they increasingly demand transparency from businesses. Regarding the latter, it’s important to remember that the families you serve are simply a subset of consumers at large. This means they are influenced by the growing ease and experience they gain by patronizing Amazon, eBay and other online retailers. In practically every online experience […]